Package store owners protest bill to allow Sunday sales

HARTFORD -- More than 100 Connecticut package store owners rallied inside the Capitol on Wednesday to object to a proposal that would allow alcohol to be sold on Sundays.

The store owners said they can't afford to hire more employees, and the measure is tailored for larger supermarkets and buyers clubs, which will make money at the expense of small businesses.

Leading lawmakers said the

General Assembly
is going to look at everything that might raise revenue during the state's budget crisis.

Store owners, wearing "No Sunday Sales" stickers on their lapels, congregated on the second floor of the Capitol about 12:30 p.m., before walking single file past the hall of the House and then to Gov.

About 50 of them stood quietly in line outside Rell's office for an hour, then left the Capitol.

Kevin Pinto, owner of That's the Spirit package store in Fairfield, said he joined the other small businessmen and women in an attempt to convince lawmakers that 72 hours of operation over six days is enough.

"Sunday sales don't generate any more revenue," Pinto, 36, said. He can't afford to add more staff and believes Sunday sales would give big-box stores and supermarkets an unfair advantage over small neighborhood shops.

"It's not positive for the industry, and it's not positive for the clientele," Pinto said. "I believe the proposal was prepared as a stab in the dark for (state) revenue. Our sales numbers did not increase when we expanded from 8 until 9 (p.m.)"

, D-Enfield, who submitted legislation to allow Sunday alcohol sales, said if the law is approved shop owners don't have to open on Sundays. It's just an option.

She estimates the state could reap another $2.2 million to $15 million in sales taxes if the last of the so-called blue laws were eliminated. Enfield is a border town and she regularly sees Connecticut residents going to Massachusetts to buy alcohol on Sundays.

Bruce Nevins, owner of WineWise on Putnam Avenue in Greenwich, said in a phone interview Wednesday it's time for Connecticut's last blue law to be erased, and he and other business owners are willing to file a constitutional lawsuit on the issue.

"They violate the separation between church and state," Nevins said, adding that the Capitol demonstration was from members of the
Connecticut Package Store Association
, which represents fewer than half of liquor retailers in the state.

"All the citizens of Connecticut, especially in the border areas, must leave the state on Sundays to purchase alcohol," Nevins said.

"When they leave the state and buy wine and spirits at the borders, they're buying other things, too. The businesses on the borders are losing money and the state is losing taxes."

He said that Sunday sales would mean more jobs for store workers, and the General Assembly should not prevent people from being able to buy beer, wine and spirits on Sundays.

"This is a free-enterprise situation," Nevins said. "In any business, you adhere to modern techniques or go out of businesses. If someone's in the middle of the state and they're a little business, no one is going to force them to open."